Jackson Purchase Historical Society

Stories of Interest from the Hickman Courier from December 2, 1871
• Hickman City Council met on November 22nd to issue a coffee house license to Stegala & Lane for six months. The City Treasurer reported a balance of $36.73 for the month of October, the City Tax Collector reported a sum of $1,872.16 received during the third quarter and $1,203.12 for the fourth quarter, the Market Master collected $24.00 for the rental of stalls at the new market house, and the Wharfmaster collected $58.00 in fees. The City Marshal was directed to collect a rent fee of $5.00 for shows, concerts and dances held at City Hall. The next day the City Council met again and approved an agreement devised by the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad Company to construct a rail station and wharf. The agreement was unanimously approved.
• On the night of November 30th an attempt was made to rob the Hickman Post Office. The building was broken into but the intruders could not crack the safe.
• Reverend N. N. Cowgill, of the Episcopal Church, was to preach at the Methodist Church in Hickman on December 3rd.
• J. O. Weatherly of East Hickman found a stray cow on November 20th and sought to locate the owner. The cow appeared to be three years old with no brand marks; it was speckled white and red in color.
• The new pastor of the Methodist Church, Reverend S. B. Adams, was unable to deliver his introductory sermon on December 3rd as he had yet to arrive in Hickman.
• On November 24th the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad Company agreed to fill, grade, pave and gravel the riverfront of the business district of Hickman and construct wharf within twelve months. The city in return authorized the Railroad Company access to “any of the streets and alleys west of Troy Avenue and north of Woodbine alley and Market Street” to run tracks to the wharf.
• Businessmen in Hickman discussed the building of a large new hotel to prepare for the growth of the city in the upcoming years.
• Fritz Hellner, chief engineer at Hickman, was searching for timbers and rock for the purpose of piling the riverfront for the new railroad wharf.
• A large number of immigrants from Georgia passed through Hickman en route to Bloomfield, Missouri to organize a colony.
• Luther Whitmore, a mail agent for the Columbus office of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, was arrested on December 1st on the charge of opening registered letters and stealing money. The crime was noticed when a decoy letter with a five-dollar bill sent by the U. S. Postal Service via his office went missing.
• Joseph B. Bell of Paducah received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point by the Examining Board set up by Congressman Ed Crossland.
• The Paducah Kentuckian reports that the tobacco crop in Ballard County would average seven-eighths of what was produced the year prior. Graves County would not have more than three-fifths and Calloway, Marshall, Lyon, Caldwell, Livingston, and Crittenden could not expect more than two-thirds of a crop. Only Trigg County was forecasted to have a full crop of good quality.
• The Elizabethtown & Paducah Railroad was completed to the crossing of the Elizabethtown, Henderson & Nashville Railroad.